Dampproofing buildings



May l0, 1960 A. s. MuNRo "DAMPPRooFING BUILDINGS Filed Feb. 21. 195'? United States Patent O nAMPPRooFlNG BUILDINGS j .l f \.A.lli son G. Munro, Gai-den City, N.Y. l Aunlicatin February 21; 1951, seal No. 641,649

i' 1i' tcl. 124-1.)

This invention relates to dampprooiing or waterproofing the walls of buildings and it has for its object to provide a novel and improved means for preventing moisture from seeping into the interior of modern buildings of the type having an outside shell or skin of glass, aluminum or the like in lieu of a conventional outer masonry wall.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple and eicient means for draining moisture lfrom Within the wall space of buildings of the above type without altering the construction or appearance of the exterior shell of the building.

Various other objects and advantages will be apparent as the nature of the invention is more fully disclosed.

A number of methods and devices have been employedv for draining moisture from inside the masonry walls of conventional buildings, the usual practice being to form drainage channels or weep holes at intervals inthe mortar between the various layers of brick, hollow tile or the like constituting the outer face of the building.

However, the more modern buildings of the type with which I am here concerned have no such outer masonry walls. Instead, they have an outer shell or skin of glass, aluminum or the like composed of prefabricated panels which are simply attached to the lframe of the building, for example by securing them to angle-irons which are embedded -in the structural concrete at the various floor levels.

Buildings of the above type have an inner masonry wall which is built uponv the concrete covering the spandrel beams at oor levels and is separated from the outer shell or skin by an air space. In dampprooiing such a building I lay ilexible moisture-proof vflashing sheets between the concrete and the superimposed inner masonry wall in a manner which is conventional exceptV that the hashing sheets are extended down the vertical face of the concrete to join a specially constructed ashing or plate conining a packing of insulating material which prevents condensation of moisture in the bottom of the air space at each oor level as hereinafter more fully described.

'I'he various panels forming the outer shell of the building are set upright in elongated horizontal strips orY frames which are supported by the concrete flooring and extend along the outside thereof below and outwardly of the inner masonry wall at each floor level. The said frames consist of elongated strips of metal having two spaced contiguous longitudinal channels. The shell-like panels constituting the outer skin or wall of the building are seated and sealed in the outer longitudinal channelv may be better understood by referring to the following porting the concrete ilooring 2' of a building, while 3 are Ftented May 1l),v 1960 2, description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming a partthereof,A in whichV a speciiicern bodiment has been set forth for purposes of illustration.

In the drawing: e

Fig. 1 is a vertical section through the wall of a: building which isA moistureproofed according to the present invention; and

Fig. 2'is a broken perspective view illustrating; the double-channeled frame securing the shell-like panelst of the building to the concrete ooring. Y f

In the followingdescription certain specific terms: are used for convenience in referring tothe various kdetails of the invention. These terms, however, are to be interpreted as broadly as the state of the art will permit.

In the drawing, Fig. 1 shows a spandrel beam 1 supthe bricks or blocks which are laid in the usual way with intermediate courses of mortar 4 to form the inner masonry Wall which is supported by the iloor above the beam 1.

Flexible moisture-proof ashing sheets 5 are laid between the oor and wall, and have their respective end portions extending vertically upward against the inside of the wall and vertically downward against the outside of the concrete. These llashings may be of the type disclosed in my Patent #2,721,819, issued October 25, 1,955.

The inside of the masonry wall may be coated withra suitable dam-pprooiing adhesive 6, usually a tar-rubber composition, while 7 is the insulation over which the usual laths are laid in finishing the inside of the building.

The concrete flooring 2 supports an elongated horizontal metal frame or trough 8 having two continuous and contiguous longitudinal channels 9 and 10 extending along the outside of the floor below and outwardly of the masonry wall. The support for said frame 8 comprises a plurality of spaced L-shaped brackets 12 which are Welded or bolted to plates 13 countersunk in the outer -face of the concrete and are Welded to the bottom of the frame 8 as illustrated.

The outer vertical wall or skin of the building comprises shell-like panels 14 which are seated in the outer` longitudinal channel 9 of frame 8 and are sealed therein by suitable caulking 15, and are supported by angles 16 which are embedded in the concrete and are welded to the panels as shown in.Fig. 1. The panels 14 are thus separated from the inner masonry wall by an air space 17.

The inner longitudinal channel .10 of frame 8 has a plurality of spaced Weep holes 18 formed in the bottom. thereof for draining moisture downwardly upon the outside of the building.

A longitudinal plate or flashing 19 adjacent the bottom of air space 17 has its lower edge portion turned down and secured as by welding to the vertical side of the inner channel 10` of frame 8, as shown in Fig. l. The upper edge portion of plate 19 is seated in a longitudinal `slot 20 formed in the vertical face of the concrete and is secured therein as by wooden wedges 21. The lower end of the liexible moisture-proof flashing 5 overlaps the plate 19, as shown in Fig. 1. A packing of insulating material such as glass wool 22 is conned between plate 19 and the outer vertical face of the concrete to prevent condensation of moisture in the bottom of the air space 17. In order to simplify the drawing, the plate 19 is omitted from Fig. 2.

Although a specific embodiment has `been shown and described hereinfor purposes of illustration, it will be evident to those skilled in the art that the invention is capable of various modifications and adaptations within the scope of the appended claim.

'I'he invention claimed is:

In a building structure having at a given floor level a spandrel beam supporting a oor, an inner wall supported by said Hoor above said beam, means for preventing the ingress of moisture between said wall and said oor, an elongated horizontal frame having two spaced contiguous longitudinal channels spportedby said floor and extending along the outside thereof and having the horizontal under surface of said frame beneath both of said channels exposed outside said building structure, and an outer vertical wall comprising shell-like panels seated and sealed in the outer longitudinal channel of said Lframe :and separated from said inner wall by an air space, the inner longitudinal channel of said frame havinga plurality of spaced weep holes in the bottom thereof for draining moisture from said air space downwardly upon the outside of the building. 1

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Seymour July 17, 1934 Duiy Feb. 19, 1935 Ross June 16, 1936 Munro June 20, 1939 Drain et al. Aug. 27, 1940 Cheney Oct. 28, 1941 Nicholson Apr. 25, 1944 Krantz Apr. 18, 1950 Soplata Q.. Ian. 8, 1952 Munro Oct. 25, 1955 

